NEWSLETTER - October 31, 2017
FROM ELLIOT ZORENSKY, President, Board of Directors, Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District
Please note: WE WILL NOT BE HAVING A MEETING IN JANUARY, 2018.
We are planning two sidewalk pressure washing event each year. We did one after the 4th of July parade, and we will do the next one after Halloween, when sticky things stick to the sidewalk.
Our Board member representing TOPA Management, has left the board, and we are currently interviewing other property owners as a replacement. We will keep you posted. Our community liaisons, Lisa Cahill from Councilman Mike Bonin's office and SLO Michael Moore continue to keep us abreast of important community matters. And thanks to the Office of Councilman Mike Bonin and DOT, we have secured a storage bin, that will be placed on the city parking lot in the 15200 block of Sunset Blvd to hold all of the materials that Chrysalis uses to keep our district clean. This has been a long time in the making, but thanks to Debbie Dyner Harris and Lisa Cahill (CD11), we can finally have a local storage place for Chrysalis.
We are also investigating have a couple of diagonal crosswalks at major Sunset intersections. We are working with the city and hope to have an update on that soon.
Just as a reminder, The Board made a unanimous decision to raise our assessment rates by 2% for the 2018 year. This will help us cover the clean team (Chrysalis) expenses, as the minimum wage increases. You will see that increase on the assessors tax statement.
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We are very thankful to the Methodist Church for welcoming us into their office for our monthly meetings. Our website keeps receiving new visitors. Stay up to date with our webpage www.palisadesbid.org as well as our Facebook Page.
We'd STILL LIKE TO HAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES: please send yours to info@palisadesbid.org
Sincerely,
Elliot Zorensky
Elliot Zorensky, UDO Real Estate,
President, Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District
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YOUR PACIFIC PALISADES BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT AT WORK; You can get current information about how the BID Board is working to enhance and keep our Business Improvement District, clean and well maintained, while keeping within our limited budget. Check out our social media presence at: Facebook (Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District), and our website, www.palisadesbid.org.
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IMPORTANT BID BOARD MEETING LOCATION INFORMATION:
Our BID meetings are now being held at the Methodist Church office at 801 Via De La Paz, the first Wed. of each month at 8:30 am. Thanks so much to the Church for allowing us to meet there. Please note: WE WILL NOT BE HAVING A MEETING IN JANUARY, 2018.
Clean and Beautiful:
Trash Hauling: The new commercial trash hauler, Athens, has begun to work in the Palisades. There are still kinks to be worked out. We are working to try to get a meeting with Athens and the stakeholders, to see, what, if anything can be done to ease the transition to this singular trash hauler mandate. We will also be sending a letter to City Council protesting the price increases, etc. that this city contract has caused. If you are interested in being a part of this discussion, please contact info@palisadesbid.org
Hepititus A - There is a lot of discussion about the spread of Hep A , especailly among homeless populaltions and we are investigating, with Chrysalis, what precausions they can take to protect themselves from this direct contact disease. Any new measures will be discussed by the board and will include input from PPHTF.
Our Clean Team, Chrysalis: Chrysalis will be pressure washing the district after Halloween, when the sidewalks are particularly sticky. They are great partners, and having the storage bin, in the city parking lot in the 15200 block of Sunset Blvd, will save a lot of time, as they won't have to pick up and cart their materials to the district each week.
The YTD cleanup information from Chrysalis:
2017 YEAR TO DATE - Chrysalis Maintenance Report
Trash Bags: 2,179 Trash Weight: 50,117 Graffiti Tags: 45 Bulk Items: 66
Communication & Marketing: Our website and our Facebook page are updated frequently, so you can read about projects we are doing in the district. We've added a new section and a couple of new links.
We have been evaluating putting twinkle lights in our trees along Sunset. We have decided to table that until next year, mostly because the cost was higher than anticipated. We've moved this into our 2018 budget. It will also involve more city participation.
We will once again be hosting our annual THANK YOU LUNCHEON for our local police and fire departments and for Chrysalis and PPHTF workers. The event will again be held at Ritrovo Restaurant on Sunset Blvd. on Wednesday December 13, 2018. Watch for more information on our website and Facebook page.
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Management & Administration: We have approved a new budget for 2018. Since we will not be doing the very expensive tree trimming this coming year, additional monies will be available for community projects, such as tree lights. We also had some legal fees that will be non-reoccurring next year. As previously announced, we had to raise assessments on all properties for the 2018 year, as there is an increase in the minimum wage two times next year, that affects our clean team. The board unanimously voted to increase the assessment by 2%, which will cover the new expenses. We have stayed within our budget, and plan to do so in the future.
All best,
Laurie Sale,
Executive Manager
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NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 31, 2017
FROM ELLIOT ZORENSKY, President, Board of Directors, Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District
Please try to attend our monthly Board Meetings. They are informative and you'll meet other property owners and their representatives. We meet the first Wednesday of each month, at 8:30 a.m., at the Methodist Church Office (801 Via De La Paz). We will NOT hold meetings in January and July, 2018.
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We have three new Board members who have the time to give to our group, and we are satisfied we have new assets to grow the BID. The new board members are: Manuel Pardo representing Village School, Nicole Howard, representing the Chamber of Commerce, and David Peterson, representing PRIDE. Please see below for more information.
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It is my hope that every property owner takes the step to spruce there properties in advance of the upcoming opening of the Village Project. This is our chance for the entire village to raise the image when the new competition for tenants starts. Even our existing tenants will appreciate the new looks to attract customers to their business. Whether it is just paint or new façade, the village will look better when the visitor come.
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We continue to be very thankful to the Methodist Church for welcoming us into their office for our monthly meetings.
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All of our agendas and other important information continues to be available on our webpage www.palisadesbid.org. Stay up to date with the BID on the website or on Facebook (Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District). We'd STILL LIKE TO HAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES: please send yours to info@palisadesbid.org
Sincerely,
Elliot Zorensky
Elliot Zorensky, President
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YOUR PACIFIC PALISADES BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT AT WORK
Clean and Beautiful:
Trash Hauling: We had a meeting with a representitive of Athens Services, the franchiseed trash hauler assigned to commercial and apartment buildings in the Pacific Palisades area. They need to contact all property owners to install the new trash bins, as well as working on maintaining a consistent pick up schedule. If you have not been contacted by Athens, please let us know and we'll try to facilitate that happening. If you have a problem, please call: 800-773-2489 or visit the Athens website: http://www.athensservices.com/city-of-la/ We've sent a letter to Councilmember Bonin regarding the price increases, etc.
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Our Clean Team, Chrysalis. Our new budget for 2018 will include sidewalk pressure washing 2 times this year. When the BID was first formed, we entered into a venture with the Chamber of Commerce, to hire Chrysalis to keep our district clean, including picking up trash, removing graffiti, and disposing of bulk items. The Chamber has decided to NOT be in the maintenance buisness anymore, and so the BID has taken over full responsibility of keeping the BID district clean. The Chamber did some fundraising and has turn over those funds to the BID to help cover what would have been their share for 2018. With minimum wage increases, our monthly commitment to Chrysalis will be going up, but in our 2018 budget, we've accounted for the increases as well as the funds that the Chamber contributed.
Communication & Marketing: Our website and Facebook pages are updated frequently. We have set aside money in our 2018 budget to accomplish our goal of installing twinkle lights, along Sunset Blvd, about the same time as the new Caruso project opens in Sept. 2018. Our ad hoc group of volunteers is in touch with the Caruso people to see if some installation provider synergies are available so all the lights can be up and running at about the same time, this fall. We look forward to having a "brighter" BID district.
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We once again hosted our annual THANK YOU LUNCHEON for our local police and fire departments and for Chrysalis and PPHTF workers. The event was a huge success, with everyone thoroughly enjoying the amazing food from the new owners of Ritrovo Restaurant on Sunset Blvd. This yearly event has been a great success, and we plan to continue it in 2018. If you haven't yet been to Ritrovo, we highly recommend their food…and the service is fantastic!
Street sidewalk vending is a political issue we are watching. Laurie attended a City Council committee meeting to voice our concerns. We, and other BIDs, would like to see the following:
• Include property owner consent as a requirement.
• Include an OPT OUT option…this process needs to be clarified and specific…who does the opting out (BID's,
communities, etc.)
• Enhanced enforcement must be used from the very beginning
• After the initial vending district maps are approved, any future changes need to be streamlined and done
through administrative, not full council, approval
• Enforcement for those operating without a permit should be distinct from those operating with a permit.
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We had a great meeting with city officials regarding diagonal street crossing in the district. Because of various obstacles, this is not really an option for the Business District. Our thanks to Lisa Cahill of CD 11 for making this meeting happen.
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Management & Administration: Spending is in line with our 2018 budget. We have three new Board members: Manuel Pardo representing Village School, where he is the Director of Finance and Operations; Nicole Howard, representing the Chamber of Commerce, where she is a previous President of the Board and a local real estate agent; and David Peterson, who is a local attorney and community activist, and is representing PRIDE. We have a budget for 2018 that was approved by the Board.
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Our community liaisons, Lisa Cahill from Councilman Mike Bonin's office and SLO Michael Moore continue to keep us abreast of important community matters.
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MEETING DATES FOR THE REST OF 2018 - First Wednesday of each month, at 8:30 AM
Wednesday, Feb 7, 2018 – Wednesday, March 7, 2018 – Wednesday, April 4, 2018 - Wednesday, May 2, 2018 - Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - NO MEETING IN JULY, 2018 - Wednesday, August 1, 2018 - Wednesday, September 5, 2018 - Wednesday, October 3, 2018 - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 (Our annual Board Meeting) - Wednesday, December 5, 2018
All the best,
Laurie Sale
Laurie Sale,
Executive Manager
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NEWSLETTER - April 30, 2017
FROM ELLIOT ZORENSKY,
President, Board of Directors, Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District
A New Year for the Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District.
As we start our second year, we are eager to implement projects that will enhance the appearance of our district. As many of you know, the City of Los Angeles is on a very slow schedule for tree trimming through-out the city. We are happy to announce, that we have made tree trimming, within the district, one of our main goals for this year. We will also continue to pressure wash the sidewalks three times a year: spring, summer (after the parade) and fall (after Halloween). We have additional plans, that we announce in our next newsletter
Again, we want to thank our diligent board members for volunteering their time and efforts, to make the BID successful. We continue to get helpful information from our Senior Lead Officer, Michael Moore, and his staff, and they keep us abreast of all incidents in the district. We hope soon to have a Council Deputy replacement from the Council Office. We will miss Sharon Shapiro, who was a terrific advocate.
Like other areas in the city, Pacific Palisades is in a state of revitalization, and we hope that our cleanliness efforts will attract new and exciting businesses.
Our website is awaiting your visit: www.palisadesbid.org. We update it as needed, have been able to respond to inquiries and questions. We also maintain a Facebook Page, for those of you who are on Facebook (Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District).
WE'D STILL LIKE TO HAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES, so that the money we have to pay to send these newsletters out, gets used for other things. It's up to you, but we'd really appreciate receiving your email address. Thank you to those who have sent theirs…please send us yours. Please email: info@palisadesbid.org
We hope that you will try to attend a meeting, which we hold the first Wed. of each month, at 8:30 am. We are going to have to move our meeting location, starting, in June, so check out the website or our Facebook page for the new meeting address. We look forward to another successful year.
Sincerely,
Elliot Zorensky,
UDO Real Estate, President, Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District.
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YOUR PACIFIC PALISADES BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT AT WORK; You can get current information about how the BID Board is working to enhance and keep our Business Improvement District, clean and well maintained, while keeping within our limited budget. Check out our social media presence at: Facebook (Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District), and our website, www.palisadesbid.org.
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Clean and Beautiful:
Trash Hauling: As some of you may already know, the City of Los Angeles has entered into an agreement with several commercial waste haulers, starting in July, 2017. They neogitated a price, that will be charged by all haulers. The city is divided into zones, and each zone will have it's own COMMERCIAL trash hauler. You will not be able to use other haulers, nor negotiate the price. You must use the hauler designated to your zone. The hauler for the west side, is Athens (877-800-7937). We've attached some information that you can use to help you get all the information you need. The "prices" have not yet been announced but will be posted soon to the website below. The Board was very much opposed to this, however, this has been brewing for several years, and will soon take effect. The program is called LA Commercial Franchise System, also known as Zero Waste LA Our local representative provided us with the following information. "your Franchise Service Provider is Athens. Their contract can be located on the website at: https://www.lacitysan.org search for Zero Waste LA - Franchise (top right of page). Click on "Staff Report" (left side of page). Click on Transmittal #4 (Athens) and go to P. 180, Appendix C: Rates sheet of the Athens contract. Please keep in mind these are the base rates which include Solid Waste (trash) AND Recycling Rates...the recycling bin service is for free, so customer pays for the trash level of service and frequency of collection. Extra services are outlined in Article 7.4 (Page 68) of the contract for additional fee(s).." As you can see, this is quite complicated, and we hope to supply more information as we receive it. The map of the zones and other information will be posted on our website. In the meantime, our representative is Ms. Pereira, (213) 485-3296
Our Clean Team, Chrysalis: We proudly announce that we have expanded our maintenance contract with Chrysalis to include sidewalk power washing three times a year. This cleaning revitalizes the walkways in our district. Chrysalis provides work for people who are trying to get back to living independently, and to date, their employees have done an extraordinary job. Not only are we keeping our district clean, but we are working to help others improve their lives.
The time has come to do some tree trimming in the BID district. Since the City is on a very delayed schedule for trimming, we are investigating costs and getting several bids. This will be the first time in many years that these trees will be trimmed. The power washing and tree trimming in 2017 will help us to accomplish one of our main goals: Clean and Beautiful.
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New Vehicle Dwelling Laws: The City of Los Angeles has enacted some new laws regarding living in a vehicle. We're posting the flier here. It has been distributed throughout the city. If you go to the website (www.lacity.org/vehicledwelling) you can see the specific zones and areas.
Communication & Marketing: Our website is a valuable tool for you to keep up with what we are doing and referral information. Please visit it frequently. www.palisadesbid.org
We are getting proposals to enhance and increase the twinkle lights in the trees. We got positive feedback at the end of last year, and want to find a "sturdier" long term solution. The lights are festive and keep our district looking cared for.
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Management & Administration: We had to spend some additional money on a CPA and lawyer to complete our yearend audit and to rectify some start-up paperwork. Additionally, we have incurred some unforeseen legal issues regarding the CPRA (California Public Records Act). The Pacific Palisades BID has been receiving multiple requests for public records - copies of meeting minutes, agendas, emails back and forth between the BID and the City, and many other things. The requesting party has been seeking extremely large volumes of records from most of the other BIDs in the City also. We are a small BID with only a part time Executive Manager, which means much of her time is being spent simply complying with these requests. The BID has retained an attorney to ensure the BID is in full compliance with the law. The good news is that we have stayed within our budget, and funds for 2017 are being collected. Our finance task force is working on our budget to include these unexpected expenses, and making sure that we spend wisely and carefully. We are looking into doing some additional marketing on our website and also investigating costs to creatively participate in the annual 4th of July Parade.
These are the 1st Q. financials that we submit to the city. We will pay off the one remaining outstanding loan of $5000 (loans that helped us get formed). This will leave a zero balance on loans to be repaid; a promise we made to all those who loaned us money prior to our formation.
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MEETING DATES FOR THE REST OF 2017 - First Wednesday of each month, at 8:30 AM. May 3, June 7, July 5, September 6, October 4, November 1 (Our Annual Board Meeting), December 6.
All best,
Laurie Sale
Executive Manager
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NEWSLETTER - June 31, 2017
FROM ELLIOT ZORENSKY,
President, Board of Directors, Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District
A lot of news about the Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District.
As we promised, we have made tree trimming one of our priorities for 2017. The crews were in our area and did a beautiful job. We also did some pressure washing and extra clean up after the parade on the 4th of July.
We have some changes on the Board. Don Scott (representing P.R.I.D.E.) resigned as Treasurer, and Leland Ford (Leland M. Ford & Assoc.) has taken over that position. Lee, who was the Vice President, has been ably replaced by Shaun Malek (Triwell Properties) and finally, the position of Secretary held by Dee Dee West (TOPA Management) has been filled by Asvina Narian (also of TOPA Management). Again, we want to thank our diligent board members for volunteering their time and efforts, to make the BID successful. We are very pleased to welcome the new CD 11 Council Deputy, Lisa Cahill. She's already been very helpful. And we are thankful for all the help and guidance we get from our Senior Lead Officer, Michael Moore, and his staff. We continue to watch as our district improves and grows.
The Board made a unanimous decision to raise our assessment rates by 2% for the 2018 year. This will help us cover the clean team (Chrysalis) expenses, as the minimum wage increases.
We have moved our monthly meeting location to the Methodist Church office on Via De La Paz. See the article about the move, below. Again, our website is constantly being updated, and we hope you will visit it often. (www.palisadesbid.org). You can also stay up to date with our Facebook page.
We'd STILL LIKE TO HAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES, so that the money we have to pay to send these newsletters out, gets used for other things. It's up to you, but we'd really appreciate receiving your email address. Thank you to those who have sent theirs…please send yours to info@palisadesbid.org
Please feel free to come to our monthly meetings on the first Wed. of each month, at 8:30 am.
Sincerely,
Elliot Zorensky,
UDO Real Estate, President, Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District
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YOUR PACIFIC PALISADES BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT AT WORK; You can get current information about how the BID Board is working to enhance and keep our Business Improvement District, clean and well maintained, while keeping within our limited budget. Check out our social media presence at: Facebook (Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District), and our website, www.palisadesbid.org.
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IMPORTANT PACIFIC PALISADES BID BOARD MEETING LOCATION INFORMATION:
Our BID meetings are now be held at the Methodist Church office at 801 Via De La Paz. Thanks so much to the Church for allowing us to meeting there. Our meetings are the first Wed. of each month at 8:30 am. The next meeting will be Wed. August 2, 2017. We will continue to post our agenda on our webpage, www.palisadesbid.org., and also in the window of the Chamber of Commerce office on Antioch.
Clean and Beautiful:
Trash Hauling: The new commercial trash hauler, Athens, has begun in the Palisades. There are still kinks to be worked out. If you have any questions or problems, please contact https://www.lacitysan.org and/or your representative, Ms. Pereira, (213) 485-3296
Our Clean Team, Chrysalis: Chrysalis has completed the second part of a three part power-wash contract we have with them. They also quickly cleaned up after the 4th of July Parade. They have been diligent in keeping the district clean.
Pressure Wash - Before Pressure Wash - After
The YTD cleanup information from Chrysalis:
2017 YEAR TO DATE Chrysalis Maintenance Report
Trash Bags 1575
Trash Weight 36225
Graffiti Tags 5
Bulk Items 64
Tree Trimming - We are pleased to announce that we completed our tree trimming project. We had all of the trees (approx.155) in the Business Improvement District pruned by professionals, who did an amazing job. The charts below show the types of trees that were pruned, and where they are located in the district. We will continue to do this every other or every two years, depending on the state of the trees. The only issue was one very tall palm was unable to be finished because of a swarm of bees. They will finish trimming that tree later. All in all, it was a very successful project that helps keep our district clean and appealing.
Tree Trimming on Sunset Blvd. Tree Trimming on Monument Street
Communication & Marketing: Our website and our Facebook page are updated frequently, so you can read about projects we are doing in the district. We've added a new section and a couple of new links, including the PPHTF contact information.
Adding and replacing twinkle lights in our trees along Sunset is still on our agenda, and we are working with providers and the City to make it happen. With all the rain last year, the current solar lights didn't accomplish our goals, so we are looking for different solutions.
Management & Administration: We have an approved budget that has allowed us to do the tree trimming and take on other projects to beautify our district. We will have to raise assessments on all properties for the 2018 year, as there is an increase in the minimum wage two times this year. The board unanimously voted to increase the assessment by 2%, which will cover the new expenses. Since we have no employees, these monies will do directly to maintenance of our district. We have stayed within our budget, and plan to do so in the future.
MEETING DATES FOR THE REST OF 2017
First Wednesday of each month, at 8:30 AM
August 2, September 6, October 4, November 1 (Our Annual Board Meeting) and December 6.
New Meeting Location: 801 Via De La Paz Methodist Church office.
All best,
Laurie Sale
Executive Manager
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